{"id":1301190,"date":"2025-10-03T15:36:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/attacks-on-gas-infrastructure-how-russia-is-trying-to-disrupt-ukraines-winter-preparations\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T15:36:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:36:19","slug":"attacks-on-gas-infrastructure-how-russia-is-trying-to-disrupt-ukraines-winter-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/attacks-on-gas-infrastructure-how-russia-is-trying-to-disrupt-ukraines-winter-preparations\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacks on gas infrastructure: How Russia is trying to disrupt Ukraine’s winter preparations."},"content":{"rendered":"

On the night of October 3, the enemy attacked with 416 air strike assets. The Air Force reports neutralizing 320 of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main target of the strike was critical infrastructure facilities (energy sector) in the Kharkiv and Poltava regions. According to monitoring channels, the Russians launched six Iskander missiles in the direction of Lubny and Lokhvytsia. Another 20 cruise missiles were fired at Poltava, Lubny, and individual communities in the Kharkiv region.<\/p>\n

As a result of shelling in the Poltava region, several of the company’s gas production facilities had to be shut down.<\/p>\n

The attacks on storage facilities and distribution stations are no coincidence, but a sign of the Kremlin’s new tactics ahead of winter. Such attacks are a regular occurrence, aimed at disrupting winter preparations and creating gas supply problems for Ukrainians during the cold season.<\/p>\n

This refers to attacks on the Ukrainian gas industry, which directly impacts electricity production. Recently, the enemy attacked substations in Sumy, Dnipro, and Kherson, causing power outages and damage to the infrastructure.<\/p>\n

It’s particularly telling that these attacks are occurring on the eve of the heating season. The occupying power is attempting to create additional problems for the civilian population by provoking chaos and discontent with the actions of the Ukrainian government at all levels. This is effectively an attempt to destabilize the situation in Ukrainian-controlled territories.<\/p>\n

As for defense, protecting gas storage facilities and energy facilities is much more difficult than military or administrative buildings. This isn’t just a problem for Ukraine: Moscow faces similar difficulties when trying to counter drone strikes on its oil depots and gas terminals.<\/p>\n

Going forward, Russian forces can be expected to intensify attacks on energy resource production and storage sites. Strikes are expected in the Poltava region, a center of oil and gas production, as well as in the western regions, which serve as logistics hubs for transportation.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the Ukrainian defense must act more than adequately \u2013 a mirror response is needed.<\/p>\n

If the Russians attack our energy facilities, we must strike similar targets in Russia. And we have the capacity to do so: recent events have demonstrated that Russian air defenses are extremely ineffective and incapable of countering massive drone and airborne missile attacks.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has currently intensified its attacks against Russian oil and gas infrastructure, aiming to cause a fuel shortage and disrupt oil exports to Europe. Western intelligence agencies estimate a record high of over three dozen Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, storage facilities, and pipelines.<\/p>\n

However, such strikes should be not only military but also symbolic. For example, a strike on the Crimean Bridge is a way to discourage the Russians from targeting our logistics. The same applies to attacks on government quarters\u2014there must be an adequate response against the Russian dictator’s residences, which are also within Ukraine’s reach.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, power sector strikes forced Ukrainians to endure blackouts. Theoretically, something similar could happen with gas. Any strikes on storage facilities or distribution stations are a serious challenge. Repairs take several days, and if the attacks occur during the peak heating season, the consequences could be critical. Therefore, the risk of gas blackouts exists, especially given that the Russians are targeting storage facilities and distribution stations, not just production sites.<\/p>\n

According to ACLED analysts for Europe and Central Asia,<\/p>\n

The strikes come as Russia escalates its offensive in eastern Ukraine, despite professing a willingness to negotiate. As Ukraine’s natural gas reserves dwindle ahead of winter, the attacks on gas infrastructure are part of a broader Russian campaign to force Ukraine to capitulate by inflicting severe civilian suffering\u2014a tactic Moscow has employed throughout the war.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is gradually strengthening its air and missile defense systems. For example, an $8.5 billion Danish contract provides for the purchase of six Patriot batteries, which will significantly enhance the protection of energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

As a reminder, on the night of Friday, October 3, Russia launched its most massive<\/a> strike since the start of the full-scale war against gas production facilities in the Kharkiv and Poltava regions. The occupiers launched 35 missiles, many of which were ballistic, as well as 60 drones. The strikes caused widespread destruction.<\/p>\n

Also follow “Pryamy”<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2022 The editorial board of prm.ua may not share the opinions expressed in the author\u2019s material.<\/em>
\u2022 The owner of the web page in the \u201cTHOUGHTS\u201d section is the author of the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the night of October 3, the enemy attacked with 416 air strike assets. The Air Force reports neutralizing 320 of them. The main target of the strike was critical infrastructure facilities (energy sector) in the Kharkiv and Poltava regions. According to monitoring channels, the Russians launched six Iskander missiles in the direction of Lubny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1183310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76872,76874,76875,76991,76871],"class_list":["post-1301190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-feed","category-war","category-other-news","category-opinions","category-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1301190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1301190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1301190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}